Books&Bullets
by ImagenaryFriendd
Summary: My name is Nick, I work as secret agent  and sometimes even as spy, as Agent Three together with my best friend Jeff, Agent Six, and some other Warblers while I try to keep up with school, friends and family which gets complicated sometimes.
1. Prologue

**NOTE: This story is completely seperate from the other one I'm writing ! I just thought I'd write a sort of secret agent story. I've only just begun, so I might change some things. Ideas, opinions and reviews are always welcome (:**

**~Enjoy !~**

"Three, watch out !" Jeff yelled at me, his partner in crime. Well, we weren't actually criminals. What we did was against the law sometimes, but we only did it for the better. The company we worked for had it all covered so we barely had any problems with the government. And when we did, it had always worked out well for us.

There was no need for Jeff to shout since we had earpieces but it was probably just instinctive. Even though a loud beep almost damaged my hearing, I forgave him for that.

I turned my head quickly and managed to dodge the object that was thrown at my head. It was a small grenade and it landed just a couple of meters away from me. I grabbed Jeff's arm and pulled him on the ground while I yelled he had to duck. The grenade exploded and the abandoned warehouse where we were, was filled with dust. I couched and got up. The dark silhouette of the man we were chasing moved towards the heavy doors at the end of the large space.

"Six, take the doors on the left side. I'm going after him." I commanded Jeff and started running towards the doors as well. Jeff nodded and started running to the small doors on the left. The guy would probably try to go to the parking lot on the left side of the building. It wouldn't be logic if he took the right side, the only thing there was an old dock no one used anymore.

I ran as fast as I could, but the dust in my lungs slowed me down. The man closed the doors right before I reached them. I cursed and it took me some time before I had them open again. I turned my head to the left; no one there. I looked at my right, and there he ran just around the corner. "Right !" I said into the earpiece so Jeff knew where to go, and ran around the corner as well.

The man stood still and I slowed down. I observed him and saw him looking for somewhere to go. He couldn't go anywhere though, there weren't any working ships or boats here and swimming wasn't an option. Jeff was approaching from the other side and the guy was closed in.

Apparently giving up wasn't an option for him because he pulled something out of his top pocket and held it in his hand so we could see what it was. Even if we hadn't seen it so clearly, we still would've known what it was; it was one of professor Youl's bombs. Youl had always been a great source of trouble and he always managed to find another idiot to work with him on one of his insane ideas so he never got caught. But I'm convinced that we're gonna find him one day.

Jeff and I stopped running. The man seemed to think of what way he would throw it and I knew Jeff would be slightly panicking right now.

"What do we do when he throws it ?" I heard Jeff say.

"Depends on what side he's gonna throw it." I replied, my eyes still locked on the man between us.

A minute passed, and he still hadn't moved. I wonder if he ever had if it wasn't for me. Suddenly I started running again and in his panic, the guy threw the bomb towards me. "Nick, watch out !" Jeff shouted. I sighed. Seriously, we've been secret agents for quite a while now, and he still forgets to call me by the name the agency gave me. I estimated the place the bomb would land and tried to think of a plan.

"Three," Jeff had probably found out I had a secret name as well. "move for heaven's sake !" I heard him say while the bomb landed a couple feet from me. I didn't have time to answer Jeff and took a dive towards the bomb. "The other way you idiot !" Jeff yelled.

I ignored him and grabbed the bomb. I quickly studied the structure of the bomb and found out it wasn't one of the bombs Youl usually used. Maybe he had designed a new one .. I realized it could explode any second now and I had to get rid of it quickly.

"I'm throwing it in the water, Youl's bombs aren't always resistant to water." I said while I ran towards the scaffold and tossed the bomb in the middle of the water. It landed in the trouble water, but we could see a little, flashing light that sank slowly. Apparently this one was resistent to water.. A shame, it was our last chance.

After a couple of seconds, we heard the sound of an explosion. Even though it was muted, it was still loud and I saw Jeff covering his ears.

Suddenly a splash of water hit me in the face. I had seen the water splash up, but it still came as a surprise for me. I stumbled back over a rope and fell into the water with another splash. I couldn't see much underneath the surface because the water was incredibly dirty but I could hear Jeff talking to me through our earpieces. I had no idea what he said, I wasn't paying attention since I tried to find the surface. That wasn't that hard, it was quite shallow because the dock hadn't been used for at least ten years, but I had to be careful because there were a lot of objects in the water which could easily create cuts. Or I could end up right underneath a shipwreck ..

As soon as my head didn't feel water anymore, I gasped for air and shook my head. "I'm fine." I sputtered and wiped my eyes. I looked over to Jeff who had put the guy's arms behind his back and pulled him on the floor while he placed his knee on the guy's back to keep him down.

I tried to get out of the water, but my wet hands couldn't find any grip on the slippery wood. After a couple attempts, there were suddenly two black shoes right in front of me. I looked up to see Jeff, reaching out his hand to me with slight panic in his eyes. He didn't like water. He wasn't really afraid of it, but he didn't like it and was frightened to fall in as well. I grabbed his hand and pulled myself up. "Thanks." I said, knowing what he had just done was against all his instincts.

He also helped me on my feet and supported me while walking because the ground and my shoes were both incredibly slippery and I wondered how our shoes weren't resistant to slippery floors. That would be the first thing I'd think of if I had designed these shoes ..

We walked towards the three guys that had just arrived and were guarding the guy who worked for professor Youl. As we came closer, I noticed they were Agent Two, also known as Flint, Agent Nine, also known as Aaron, and Agent Zero who also goes by the name of Wes.

They had been following another guy who was already in the helicopter that had just arrived.

"Good work guys." Flint said while he gave us an approvingly nod. "You too." I said. "Wait, where's the other guy ? Is he already in the helicopter ?" I added, remembering the others had to follow two guys, and I had only seen one of them getting in the helicopter. An uncomfortable silence fell and I understood he had escaped.

"Sorry. We couldn't help it, he ran up the stairs to the roof, but when we came up a couple of seconds later, he was just gone." explained Wes. "It's alright. You tried your best, and we did catch two of them." Jeff said, trying to cheer us up again. It only worked a bit though. It's not that I can't forgive the guys, because I already have, but the idea he had escaped worried me. In our whole career as a team, none of Youl's men had managed to shake off three of us.

I looked back at the dock. The shipwrecks in the filthy water still rocked a bit since the water was still not quiet yet. Where could that guy have gone ? He can't just jump off the roof of a building, especially not one as high as this one ..

I shivered, not sure if it was from fright or from the fact my clothes were still soaking wet. Not even to speak about my hair.

Jeff noticed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I felt like a sponge since the water dripped out of clothes even faster than it already did and my clothes sticked even closer to my body. It was nice from Jeff though, it's good to have a friend like that. "Thanks." I said smiling. Jeff stared me in the eyes and told me I was welcome.

At that moment, a guy in a black suit with the logo of the agency on it's chest, walked over and handed me two blankets. "Sorry Agent Three, we don't have extra clothes here. Just wrap these around you to keep you warm in the helicopter." He added. I handed the blankets over to Jeff and started to open the buttons of my blazer. It would be more comfortable without the blazer, it was heavy and cold from the water.

Jeff unfolded the blankets and put them around my shoulders. "Well, they must've known your personality." He said while he pointed laughing at the blankets, making the others laugh. I didn't understand and took a closer look at the blankets; one of them was white with red hearts and the other one had flowers in all bright colors you can possibly think of. I blushed.

"At least I wasn't afraid to get in the water." I defended myself. I noticed the others held their breaths and the silence made me think about what I just said a little bit deeper.

Shit, my mouth was faster than my brain again. This must've hurt Jeff, it really sounded like I was talking about him.

I was so embarrassed I didn't dare to look at him. "Shit. Sorry Jeff, I didn't mean it like that ! I mean, if I hadn't thrown it in the water, the bomb would've caused more damage."

"No worries. I know you didn't mean it like that." Replied Jeff.

"And just in case you didn't, you can always take a look at his sweet little hearts blanket." Aaron added with a grin.

"Guys, time to get in." Wes said, beckoning. I wrapped my arms in front of my chest to keep it warm and started walking. Jeff wanted to carry my blazer and I could tell he didn't like the touch of the wet whatever it was made of. I told him he didn't have to, but he insisted and put an arm around my shoulders again. "You're a good friend." I said while we got in the helicopter. "You're a brave one." He answered.

"Not a good one ?" I said teasingly. I can't help teasing Jeff, I just love it.

Apparently he loves teasing me too. "No." he said. I pouted. "You're the best on this planet." He continued, a big smile brightened up his face. I didn't get the chance to answer because the helicopter had started to fly and I would have to yell if I wanted Jeff to catch what I said, and I didn't feel like yelling right now.

Suddenly he grabbed my arm and turned it around. What the hell was he doing ? "Looks bad." He tried to yell over the noise of the helicopter. I didn't catch the words, but I could read the words from his lips. I looked down at my arm and followed Jeff's finger. He placed it on my wrist, but strangely enough I didn't feel it. As soon as I saw that my once white sleeve wasn't so white anymore but red, I didn't find it strange anymore. A shard from the bomb must've hit me.

Jeff gestured at Aaron he had to hand over the first-aid kit and Jeff softly pressed a gauze bandage against my wrist. He was very careful because if the shard was still in my arm, it might get deeper. Jeff was always careful, he was also very caring. He could easily be a nurse or a doctor.

I rested with my head on Jeff's shoulder for the rest of the trip. He was wrong. I wasn't the best on this planet: he was.


	2. Chapter 01

**Chapter 1.**

I woke up with a dazzled feeling in my head. I concluded it had to be a cold and decided to stay in bed for as long as possible, yesterday had been an exhausting day after all. Even though I was used to days like that, yesterday felt different. Maybe I just worried too much, but the fact that one guy escaped and the other had a new sort of bomb we'd never seen before, kept bugging me.

I lay on my back, thinking about yesterday, until the alarm of my roommate, partner in crime and best friend Jeff rang. I grabbed my pillow and put it over my head, pressing it into my face. I hate the sound of Jeff's alarm clock, it's even worse than the sound of a ticking time-bomb, and today it sounded even worse since every sound seemed to hurt my ears.

In just a couple of seconds, Jeff had jumped out of bed and turned off his alarm. I growled when he grabbed the pillow and tried to remove it from my face, but I refused to let go. "Rise and shine Nick !" He said, and smiled brightly while he yanked at the pillow and pulled it out of my hands. Okay, now I was absolutely positive I was ill; even the sound of Jeff's voice hurt my ears.

"Go away Jeff." I groaned.

"I know you're not a morning person Nick, but you'll have to get up now. School starts within half an hour." He replied.

I shot up, almost hitting my head against Jeff's who dodged my movements just in time. "Half an hour ? Are you insane ? I can't prepare for school, take a shower and have breakfast in half an hour ! Why didn't you wake me earlier ?" I shouldn't have gotten up so fast: black spots covered my sight and it took a couple of seconds before they went away. Great, low blood pressure too.

"Relax Nick. I just thought we could use the sleep, especially you. How's your wrist by the way ?" I almost shook my head in confusion, but the pain in the back of my head stopped me, so I kept my head still and only gave Jeff a confused glare. "You got cut by a shard yesterday, remember ?" Jeff reminded me patiently.

"Oh, yes. Of course." I said, wondering how I could be so stupid to forget that. It was probably because it was early.

Jeff kneeled on my bedside, lifted up my blanket and took my hand in his. Carefully he took off the bandage and observed the wound. Fortunately the shard only _cut_ my wrist, it would've been much worse if it had actually been _stuck_ there .. The thought only made me shiver already.

"It's healing pretty good. Looks much better already." Jeff said, and put on a new bandage. "Unlike the rest of you Nick, are you alright ?" he continued, not taking his eyes of what he was doing.

I sighed. I actually didn't want Jeff to know about this, I would have to stay in bed all day and I really wanted to go to the classes. Through our jobs, we missed a lot of them already and I really wanted to do a good job on school as well. "I think I have a cold." I replied, knowing there was no way Jeff would believe me if I lied about it.

Jeff nodded. "Thought so. Must be from the water and the wet clothes .."

"Probably. Are you finished ? I need to take a shower before school starts."

"Are you sure y-"

"Yes. I'm going Jeff." I cut him off and pulled my arm out of his hand with an agressive yank.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." He murmured with a confused and shocked look on his face.

I took a deep breath before answering. "You're not. Don't apologize for it. I'm just in a bad mood." I said, still grumpy as I walked to our dresser.

"It's okay." Jeff smiled. "Just be sure to take good care of yourself. If you're doing too much, your cold will only last longer." He added, got up and started to pack his bag.

"I'll keep that in mind. You can go and have breakfast already. I'm guessing I'll be long." I answered while I walked to the bathroom.

I looked in the mirror and saw I really looked as bad as Jeff said I did. Maybe even worse. I had giant bags underneath my eyes, my skin was even paler than usual and my eyes looked tired and were swollen. Maybe I _should_ stay in bed today.. I really wanted to take a shower though, I love the feeling of warm water, especially when I'm feeling like a wreck after a long day work and a restless night.

I thought I'd be sleeping early yesterday, I was exhausted when we came back. But I the sleep just didn't seem to find me. I've been tossing and turning for at least two hours before I started to feel sleepy. Maybe I was too tired to fall asleep, maybe I've been working too much .. It's weird, but sometimes when we're working, we forget we're only human. We can still hurt and we can still die. Despite the spy-stuff, we're still just Nick and Jeff, two 'average' guys in high school. We're nothing special actually, and we're certainly not more important than any other person. We haven't even had girlfriends yet .. We just don't have time for it, plus we aren't allowed to tell anyone about our jobs and I don't think I'd be able to keep such a big secret from someone I love so much.

Sometimes I wish I had a normal life you know ? Living in a stable. maybe boring environment and not having to worry about Youl and other criminals who might have you as target, not having heavy training every two days you're not on a mission, not having to run and move every time the agency thinks someone has traced us. And maybe even being able to focus on school..

On the other hand I'm incredibly grateful I have this job. I get to make a difference, maybe even save lives. And without this job, I wouldn't have known Jeff. It'd be awful if I didn't know Jeff. He is awesome and always manages to cheer me up. I wonder how he manages to keep all this stuff up.

After a long shower, I stumbled back to my bed and let myself fall right onto it with my face buried in my pillow. I barely lay there for a minute when the door opened and Jeff ran in. I turned my head to the door and opened one eye. I saw him noticing me and slowing down. "I think I'm gonna stay in bed today." I mumbled, closing my eye again. The lights were damn bright.

"If you had told me that earlier I wouldn't just have needed to use Thad and Wes' bathroom to freshen myself up in just a couple of minutes. Imagine, I could've taken a shower myself, in my _own_ bathroom !" Jeff's sarcasm almost made me laugh.

"How come you like to shower while you're afraid of water ?" I asked, realizing it was kind of odd.

Jeff shrugged. "Don't know. Showers are just different I guess.. Anyway, school's starting in just a couple of minutes, well no, actually it's starting now so I'm already late and I need to report you're ill too, so I'm double late .. Never mind that. I talk too much. What I wanted to ask: do you want me to stay with you today or not ?"

I wanted to shake my head but just couldn't get myself to. "Nahh. I'll be fine." I mumbled instead.

"You sure ?"

Even though I had my eyes closed, I knew exactly what Jeff's face looked like now. Worried, yet a little bit hopeful. He didn't really care about going to classes, he was pretty intelligent and his grades were excellent of which I was pretty jealous since I actually had to work pretty hard for them.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You just go and enjoy French and stuff." I replied, opening my eyes in an attempt to prove I would be okay.

"Okay. I'll be off then." He said as he walked to the door. "But if anything happens to you while I'm gone .. !" he said in a threatening tone while he turned around.

"Je-eff." I said groaning, and closed my eyes again.

"Okay, okay. Just take it easy, Nick." Jeff said right before he closed the door.

_As if I was planning on doing anything else .. _I pulled up the blankets and curled up to a little ball.

No matter how annoying it could be sometimes, Jeff had always been the person I could rely on. He was always there when I needed him. Even though I wasn't always there for him, I was also the only stable thing in his life. We'd been moving around as long as I can remember so we barely had the chance to make new friends, and even if we did, we were unable to keep in touch after we moved.

Right after we were born, Jeff and I were both given up for adoption and the agency adopted us. Well, agencies can't adopt children for as far as I know, but they have families all over the country who are willing to adopt children like us for the agency, and move around with them when necessary. Jeff and I were placed in different families, but we always had missions together and it was like we were teamed up for the rest of our lives, so they kept our families close; if I had to move, Jeff moved with me and the other way around.

When I was fourteen, my mum called me to come downstairs because she wanted to talk to me. When I came downstairs, my parents were sitting on the couch and looked rather serious and sad. I feared they had checked my internet history and found the link Tom had sent me yesterday. I shouldn't even have opened it, it was predictable what sort of site it would reveal.

I wasn't sure that was the reason my parents called though, so waited for one of my parents to say something. "Come sit with us." My mum said while she patted next to her on the couch. A bit insecure I walked over and sat down. A minute of silence fell as I switched my gaze between my parents. "Nicky, we uhm .. we .. Uhm, actually .. I don't know how to tell you this properly." My mum avoided my gaze and sighed as another silence fell. I let out my breath, relieved it probably wasn't about what I thought it was.

My mum started talking again. "Okay. I'm just gonna tell you straight away." The way she said it worried me. What the hell was going on ? Did one of them have another ? Did someone die ? It wasn't Jeff, was it ? I panicked and looked at my dad, observing his face hoping it would be helpful, but his face was blank.

My mum seemed to hesitate. "We're going to move." She said finally. I raised an eyebrow. That wasn't something new, we moved at least once a year. Then why did she look so sad ? Before I could ask anything, she continued talking. "But this time you're not moving with us."

My confusion was complete. "W-what ?" I stuttered. My mother stared at her hands, so I looked to dad, my gaze asking for explanation.

"We're having some problems with the agency and our safety. You'll go to another family and we will move away." He explained while he took my mother's hand who was crying silently now.

When she pulled her arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, I couldn't hold back my tears anymore. I didn't want to cry, it was childish and for girls, and I was neither of them for as far as I knew. But losing my parents was horrible. I was really close with them because they were one of the less things I could rely on in my life.

Two days later was the day they would leave. They drove me to Jeff's early in the morning because they had to arrange a lot of things first and it would only be boring for me to be there. Somewhere around lunch-time, Jeff's family and I arrived at the airport as well. My parents stood there waiting for me, the plane was ready to take off –it was a privet jet from the agency of course. I walked over and before I realized, they had taken me into a tight hug. When they pulled away, I saw even my dad was crying. "Goodbye mom and dad." I whispered, glancing at my shoes. They gave me a last, bitter smile before they turned around and went on the plane.

I watched the plane take off and felt tears streaming down my face. I cursed myself because I had planned not to cry. I almost jumped when I felt something touching my right hand. Then I saw it was Jeff's hand enclosing mine. I hadn't even realized Jeff had been standing right behind me all this time. I felt ashamed of my tears, but I couldn't help some more falling when the plane disappeared out of sight.

I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath before turning around to meet Jeff's eyes. They were red too, and I could tell he might just have been crying harder than I did. "Coming to the car ?" he asked with a shaky voice. I nodded and we walked to the car.

In the car on our way home, Jeff handed me a photo-book with over hundred pages filled with pictures of me and my parents. When I was on page five, I realized I'd forgotten to thank Jeff and his parents for doing all this for me, so I lifted up my head and politely thanked Jeff and his parents for everything.

"It's okay." Jeff said, slightly smiling. "I can't imagine what it is like to lose my parents, let alone never seeing them again." he continued while he placed a hand on my knee.

My eyes widened. "I'm never seeing them again ?" I knew they'd move away, pretty far from here, but I thought I was going to see them at least once a year.

"I don't think so. And if you happen to meet them one day, they won't remember you anyways." My eyes almost plopped out of my head now. "Their memories will be wiped." he continued before he looked at me and noticed the expression on my face. "You didn't know ? Oh gosh, I feel so stupid. I'm so sorry you had to hear it this way." Jeff apologized, looking like he was in pain. "But the memory wipe is necessary to prevent the spreading of information or something. I can't believe they didn't tell you that." he said while he touched my arm, trying to encourage me.

I couldn't believe it either. They had lied to me about it ! I closed the photo-book with a slam and put it beside me before I leaned against Jeff and rested my head on his shoulder. I would take a look in the book again as soon as I was over it or able to forgive them (but even now I still haven't opened it again. Too painful I guess ..)

"So, where am I going to go now ?" I broke the silence in the car after a couple of minutes. Jeff leaned his head against mine before answering. "You're going to stay with us." He said.

And so I did. I lived with Jeff for the last weeks of school and until the end of summer when we were sent to Dalton where we lived for a little longer than a year now. We only saw Jeff's parents once in a while and stayed at Dalton most of the time. We had become sort of independent, but if we needed help, we could always go to Mr. Thiessen. He is a man in his forties and teacher Physics at Dalton. The boys who work for the agency also like to call him the '_defense against the dark arts teacher_'.

In his ealier years, Mr. Thiessen had been just like us, but now he did other work for the agency which included keeping an eye on us boys in Dalton, only the ones that worked for the agency of course. If we had any problems with the school caused by the work we did, he always solved it and covered it up. He also made sure agents didn't get roomed up with a non-agent because that would cause a lot of trouble (obviously). Since Jeff and I had been friends for forever, we really wanted a room together. We both knew in the back of our heads that we would get a room together because we had always been a team and the agency knew it, but we were still worried they would put us in a room with other boys. Of course our worrying was in vain; we got roomed up.

Sometimes I wonder why I wanted to share a room with him so badly. It's almost like he has OCD, he always cleans up _everything_. I bet he even cleans the fingerprints on his alarm-clock every morning. I glanced over at the alarm-clock that stood on Jeff's nightstand. I sighed and rolled over. I slowly snoozed in and woke when Jeff ran in.

"Nick, hey ! Do you need me to get anything for you ? Food or something ? I was here at lunch time, but you were asleep so I left you sleeping. Have you been awake meanwhile ?" Too much words at once to take in for me. Jeff closed the door and placed his bag next to his bed. "I take that as a no." he continued his talking. "Would you like some soup ?"

I nodded slowly. I like soup, especially in situations like this. Jeff hurried out of the room again to get soup from the kitchen. I sat up, rubbed in my eyes and sat there, staring at the bandage on my wrist until I heard the door open. Jeff walked over to me and handed me a cup.

"Careful, it's hot." He warned, and stared at me while I blew in the soup to cool it off. Suddenly Jeff started laughing.

"What ?" I asked.

"You should see yourself." Jeff snorted. "Is that what happens when you go to sleep right after you've showered ?" he sat down on the end of my bed.

I tried to put on an offended face but failed and only made Jeff laugh even harder.

"So how was your day ?" I asked while I brought the cup to my mouth.

"Not really eventful. A bit boring without you actually .. Oh, we have a new teacher for the English class. I can't remember his name but I think he's around the same age as Thiessen, a little bit heavier probably .. Thiessen doesn't really seem to like him, but he seems like a nice guy to me." Jeff bit his lip thoughtfully. "Besides that, we got an amount Everest of notes, it'll take you at least an hour to copy them all. Something to look forward to."

I groaned. That meant I had to learn all of them as well.

"And get well soon from Wes, Flint, David and Jonathan." Jeff added quickly.

"Oh, thanks." I said before I took another sip of my soup. David and Jonathan weren't part of the agency, but they were really good friends and didn't ask questions.

"And I told Mr. Thiessen you're ill for at least two days, so you don't have to worry about anything." Jeff said while he took the empty cup from my hands and placed it on the cupboard.

"Thanks again." I replied. "But I'm hoping I'll be able to work again tomorrow."

"No Nick, you're not. You need to rest. Even Mr. Thiessen says so, so you don't have any reason to ignore what I tell you." he said sternly.

"But being ill is boring !" I protested.

"I know, but I can't help it. Besides, you should be glad you don't have to work when you're ill. That would've been even worse."

Jeff was right, I couldn't deny it, so I stayed in bed for the next two days and copied the notes Jeff gave me at lunch time when he went to our room and brought me some food. I wasn't fully recovered after two days of boredom, but I was totally fed up with being in bed and decided to go to the lessons today. In the late afternoon, we were told we were needed by the agency again and we were picked up around 6 PM by the helicopter.


End file.
